Address Book Clearinghouse Interface System and Method

1. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface stored on computer-readable storage medium, the integrated address book clearinghouse interface comprising: (A) a plurality of distinct and separate function modules, usable by a plurality of application programs for managing a plurality of address books that form an integrated address book clearinghouse, by performing functions on the integrated address book clearinghouse; (B) an encapsulation module for encapsulating in data envelopes requests for the performance of functions on the integrated address book clearinghouse and authorization to perform the requested functions, the requests including: (1) a request to perform an add, delete, update, or find address book function, the data envelope encapsulating the request comprising: (a) a header section, comprising: (i) an address book application header field; and (ii) an address book authorization header field; and (b) a body section, comprising: (i) an address book add field if the request includes an add address book function, (ii) an address book delete field if the request includes a delete address book function, (iii) an address book update field if the request includes an update address book function, and (iv) an address book find field if the request includes a find address book function; (2) a request to perform an add, delete, update, or find address book contact function, the data envelope encapsulating the request comprising: (a) a header section, comprising: (i) an address book application header field; and (ii) an address book authorization header field; and (b) a body section, comprising: (i) an address book contact add field if the request includes an add contact function, (ii) an address book contact delete field if the request includes a delete contact function, (iii) an address book contact update field if the request includes an update contact function, (iv) an address book contact find field if the request includes a find contact function, (3) a request to perform an (i) add, delete, update, and find a group or a set of groups function, (ii) add or merge contacts into groups function, or (iii) delete a contact from one or more groups function, the data envelope encapsulating the request comprising: (a) a header section, comprising: (i) an address book application header field; and (ii) an address book authorization header field; and (b) a body section, comprising: (i) an address book add group field if the request includes an add a group or a set of groups function, (ii) an address book delete group field if the request includes a delete a group or a set of groups function, (iii) an address book update group field if the request includes an update a group or a set of groups function, (iv) an address book find group field if the request includes a find a group or a set of groups function, (v) an address book contact add group field if the request includes an add or merge contacts into groups functions, and (vi) an address book contact delete group field if the request includes a delete a contact from one or more groups function; (4) a request to perform a (i) find all contacts, groups, and address book information function, (ii) find a contact and groups containing the contact function, (iii) find one or more contacts in a group function, (iv) find a contact who is a Messenger® user function, or (v) find a contact who is an owner of an address book function, the data envelope encapsulating the request comprising: (a) a header section, comprising: (i) an address book application header field; and (ii) an address book authorization header field; and (b) a body section, comprising: (i) an address book find all contacts, groups, and address book information field if the request includes a find all contacts, groups, and address book information function, (ii) an address book find a contact by group containing the contact field if the request includes a find a contact and groups containing the contact function, (iii) an address book find one or more contacts in a group field if the request includes a find one or more contacts in a group function, (iv) an address book find a contact who is a Messenger® user field if the request includes a find the contact who is a Messenger® user function, and (v) an address book find a contact who is an owner of the address book field if the request includes a find the contact who is an owner of an address book function; and (5) a request to perform a get a parental control allow list in an address book function or a set the parental control allow list in the address book function, the data envelope encapsulating the request comprising: (a) a header section, comprising: (i) an address book application header field; and (ii) an address book authorization header field; and (b) a body section, comprising: (i) an address book get a parental control allow list in an address book field if the request includes a get a parental control allow list in an address book function; and (ii) an address book set the parental control allow list in the address book field if the request includes a set a parental control allow list in the address book function; (C) an analyzing module for analyzing the data envelopes to detect the encapsulated requests and authorization to verify the authenticity of the encapsulated requests; (D) an address book function call module for generating function calls to request the performance of the requested functions on the integrated address book clearinghouse if the requests are authentic; (E) a function call processing module for parsing the function calls requesting the performance of the functions on the integrated address book clearinghouse and relaying the parsed function calls to the integrated address book clearinghouse; (F) a function call response module for generating responses to processed function calls; and (G) a response encapsulation module for encapsulating in data envelopes responses to processed function calls and information identifying an address book of the plurality of address books on which a function call was carried out, the responses including: (1) a response to an add, delete, update, or find an address book function, the data envelope encapsulating the response including a body section comprising: (a) an address book add response field if the request causing the generation of the function call includes an add address book function; (b) an address book delete response field if the request causing the generation of the function call includes a delete address book function; (c) an address book update response field if the request causing the generation of the function call includes an update address book function, and (d) an address book find response field if the request causing the generation of the function call includes a find address book function; (2) a response to an add, delete, update, or find one or more contacts in an address book function, the data envelope encapsulating the response including a body section comprising: (a) an address book contact add response field if the request causing the generation of the function call includes an add contact function, (b) an address book contact delete response field if the request causing the generation of the function call includes a delete contact information function, (ci) an address book contact update response field if the request causing the generation of the function call includes an update contact function, and (d) an address book contact find response field if the request causing the generation of the function call includes a find contact function; (3) a response to (i) an add, delete, update, and find a group or a set of groups function, (ii) an add or merge contacts into groups function, or (iii) a delete a contact from one or more groups function, the data envelope encapsulating the response including a body section comprising: (a) an address book group add response field if the request causing the generation of the function call includes an add a group or set of groups function, (b) an address book group delete response field if the request causing the generation of the function call includes a delete a group or set of groups function, (c) an address book group update response field if the request causing the generation of the function call includes an update a group or set of groups function, (d) an address book group find response field if the request causing the generation of the function call includes a find a group or set of groups function, (e) an address book contact add group response field if the request causing the generation of the function call includes an add or merge contacts into groups function, and (f) an address book contact delete group response field if the request causing the generation of the function call includes a delete a contact from one or more groups function; (4) a response to: (i) a find all contacts, groups, and address book information function, (ii) a find a contact and groups containing the contact function, (iii) a find one or more contacts in a group function, (iv) a find a contact who is a Messenger® user function, or (v) a find a contact who is the owner of an address book function, the data envelope encapsulating the response including a body section comprising: (a) an address book find all contacts, groups, and address book information response field if the request causing the generation of the function call includes a find all contacts, groups, and address book information function, (b) an address book find a contact by group containing the contact response field if the request causing the generation of the function call includes a find the contact as well as groups containing the contact function, (c) an address book find one or more contacts in a group response field if the request causing the generation of the function call includes a find one or more contacts in a group function, (d) an address book find a contact who is a Messenger® user response field if the request causing the generation of the function call includes a find a contact who is a Messenger® user function, and (e) an address book find a contact who is the owner of an address book response field if the request causing the generation of the function call includes a find a contact who is the owner of an address book function; and (5) a response to get a parental control allow list in an address book function or set a parental control allow list in the address book function, the data envelope encapsulating the response including a body section comprising (a) an address book get a parental control allow list in an address book response field if the request causing the generation of the function call includes a get a parental control allow list in an address book function, and (b) an address book set a parental control allow list in an address book response field if the request causing the generation of the function call includes a set a parental control allow list in an address book function.

2. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising an authorization module for seeking authority to authorize the encapsulated requests for the performance of the functions on the integrated address book clearinghouse if the encapsulated requests do not include authorization to perform the encapsulated requests.

3. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 1 wherein the header section of the data envelope encapsulating (1) the request to perform an add, delete, update, or find address book function; (2) the request to perform an add, delete, update, or find address book contact function; (3) the request to perform the (a) add, delete, update, and find a group or a set of groups function, (b) add or merge contacts into groups function, or (c) delete a contact from one or more groups function; (4) the request to perform the (a) find all contacts, groups, and address book information function, (b) find a contact and groups containing the contact function, (c) find one or more contacts in a group function, (d) find a contact who is a Messenger® user function, or (e) find a contact who is an owner of an address book function; and (5) the request to perform a get a parental control allow list in an address book function or a set the parental control allow list in the address book function, comprising: (A) an address book application header field comprising: (1) an application identification parameter; and (2) a first Boolean parameter; and (B) an address book authorization header field comprising: (1) a hyperlink to a Web service; and (2) a second Boolean parameter.

4. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 3 wherein the body section of the data envelope encapsulating the request to perform an add address book function, comprising: (A) a hyperlink to a Web service; and (B) an address book information field.

5. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 3 wherein the body section of the data envelope encapsulating the request to perform a delete address book function, comprising a hyperlink to a Web service.

6. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 3 wherein the body section of the data envelope encapsulating the request to perform a update address book function, comprising: (A) a hyperlink to a Web service; and (B) an address book field.

7. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 3 wherein the body section of the data envelope encapsulating the request to perform a find address book function, comprising: (A) a hyperlink to a Web service; and (B) an identification of an owner of the address book.

8. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the body section of the data envelope encapsulating the request to perform an add address book contact function, comprising: (A) a hyperlink to a Web service; and (B) a contacts field comprising: (1) a contact field; (2) a primary email field; (3) an email field; (4) a phones field; (5) a locations field; (6) a Web sites field; (7) a properties changed field; and (8) an annotations field.

9. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the body section of the data envelope encapsulating the request to perform a delete address book contact function, comprising: (A) a hyperlink to a Web service; and (B) a contacts field comprising a contact field.

10. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the body section of the data envelope encapsulating the request to perform an update address book contact function, comprising: (A) a hyperlink to a Web service; and (B) a contacts field comprising: (1) a contact field; (2) a primary email field; (3) an email field; (4) a phones field; (5) a locations field; (6) a Web sites field; (7) a properties changed field; and (8) an annotations field.

11. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 3 wherein the body section of the data envelope encapsulating the request to perform a find address book contact function, comprising: (A) a hyperlink to a Web service; and (B) a contact filter field comprising a group filter field and a contacts identification field.

12. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 3 wherein the body section of the data envelope encapsulating the request to perform the add a group or a set of groups function, comprising: (A) a hyperlink to a Web service; and (B) a group information field.

13. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 3 wherein the body section of the data envelope encapsulating the request to perform the delete a group or a set of groups function, comprising: (A) a hyperlink to a Web service; and (B) a group filter field.

14. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 3 wherein the body section of the data envelope encapsulating the request to perform the update a group or a set of groups function, comprising: (A) a hyperlink to a Web service; and (B) a groups field.

15. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 3 wherein the body section of the data envelope encapsulating the request to perform the find a group or a set of groups function, comprising: (A) a hyperlink to a Web service; (B) a group filter field; and (C) an annotations field.

16. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 3 wherein the body section of the data envelope encapsulating the request to perform the add or merge contacts into groups function, comprising: (A) a hyperlink to a Web service; (B) a group filter field; (C) a contacts field; and (D) a group contact add options field.

17. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 3 wherein the body section of the data envelope encapsulating the request to perform the delete a contact from one or more groups function, comprising: (A) a hyperlink to a Web service; (B) a group filter field; and (C) a contacts field.

18. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 3 wherein the body section of the data envelope encapsulating the request to perform the find all contacts, groups, and address book information function, comprising: (A) a hyperlink to a Web service; and (B) an address book view field.

19. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 3 wherein the body section of the data envelope encapsulating the request to perform the find a contact and groups containing the contact function, comprising: (A) a hyperlink to a Web service; and (B) a contacts identification field.

20. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 3 wherein the body section of the data envelope encapsulating the request to perform the find one or more contacts in a group function, comprising: (A) a hyperlink to a Web service; and (B) a group identification field.

21. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 3 wherein the body section of the data envelope encapsulating the request to perform the find a contact who is a Messenger® user function, comprising a hyperlink to a Web service.

22. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 3 wherein the body section of the data envelope encapsulating the request to perform the find a contact who is an owner of an address book function, comprising a hyperlink to a Web service.

23. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 3 wherein the body section of the data envelope encapsulating the request to perform a get a parental control allow list in an address book function or a set the parental control allow list in the address book function comprising a hyperlink to a Web service.

24. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 1 wherein the address book add response field comprising: (A) a hyperlink to a Web service; and (B) an address book add result parameter.

25. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 1 wherein the address book delete response field and the address book update response field comprising: (A) a hyperlink to a Web service.

26. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 1 wherein the address book find response field comprising: (A) a hyperlink to a Web service; and (B) an address book find result field.

27. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 1 wherein the address book contact add response field comprising: (A) a hyperlink to a Web service; and (B) an address book contact add result field.

28. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 1 wherein the address book contact delete response field and the address book contact update response field comprising: (A) a hyperlink to a Web service.

29. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 1 wherein the address book contact find response field comprising: (A) a hyperlink to a Web service; and (B) an address book contact find result field comprising: (1) a pair of group fields; (2) a pair of contact fields; and (3) an address book last change parameter.

30. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 1 wherein the address book group add response field comprising: (A) a hyperlink to a Web service; and (B) an address book group add result field.

31. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 1 wherein the address book group delete response field, the address book group update response field, and the address book contact delete group response field comprising: (A) a hyperlink to a Web service.

32. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 1 wherein the address book group find response field comprising: (A) a hyperlink to a Web service; and (B) an address book group find results field comprising: (1) a pair of group fields.

33. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 1 wherein the address book contact add group response field comprising: (A) a hyperlink to a Web service; and (B) an address book group contact add result field.

34. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 1 wherein the address book find all contacts, groups, and address book information response field comprising: (A) a hyperlink to a Web service; and (B) an address book find all response field comprising: (1) an address book find all result field comprising: (a) an address book field; (b) a contacts field; and (c) a groups field.

35. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 1 wherein the address book find a contact by group containing the contact response field comprising: (A) a hyperlink to a Web service; and (B) an address book find by contacts result field comprising: (1) an address book field; (2) a contacts field; and (3) a groups field.

36. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 1 wherein the address book find one or more contacts in a group response field comprising: (A) a hyperlink to a Web service; and (B) an address book find by group result field comprising: (1) an address book field; (2) a contacts field; and (3) a group field.

37. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 1 wherein the address book find a contact who is a Messenger® user response field comprising: (A) a hyperlink to a Web service; and (B) an address book find Messenger user result field comprising: (1i) an address book field; (2) a contacts field; and (3) a group field.

38. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 1 wherein the address book find a contact who is the owner of an address book response field comprising: (A) a hyperlink to a Web service; and (B) an address book find me contact result field comprising: (1) an address book field; (2) a contacts field; and (3) a group field.

39. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 1 wherein the address book get a parental control allow list in an address book response field comprising: (A) a hyperlink to a Web service; and (B) an address book find me contact result field comprising: (1) an address book field; (2) a contacts field; and (3) a group field.

40. An integrated address book clearinghouse interface as claimed in claim 1 wherein the address book set a parental control allow list in an address book response field comprising a hyperlink to a Web service.